There’s a story about a bride who was extremely nervous before her wedding day. She confided to her pastor that she was not sure she could make it all the way down the aisle without shaking or crying. So the pastor, a seasoned veteran of weddings, gave her a bit of advice: “When you begin your walk,” the pastor said, “just remember this three-point formula:

FIRST, look straight down the aisle….
SECOND, when you get about half-way, look straight at the altar…
THIRD, when you get near the front of the church, look straight at the groom.

The trembling bride agreed to try this advice, and it worked beautifully! She walked down the aisle with a radiant glow on her face, with poise and confidence in every step, and with no sign of nervousness. There was something that some folks noticed, however… Imagine the concern of the congregation, at least those sitting on the aisle, as they heard her rhythmically repeating three words over and over as she processed: “aisle alter….him!” (repeat several times…) (“I’ll alter him!”)

Well the truth is: most newly-weds do not have a lot of luck altering their spouses… Most partners don’t have any luck at all altering their partners!

However - The Good news of the Christian faith is: God - in Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit - can indeed alter us!”

At the start of today’s story we find the prophet Elijah paralyzed with fear. The wrathful wife of King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, has come out threatening “to alter” Elijah permanently; Jezebel is after his very life!

Elijah has good reason to be scared… As one of the prophets of YHWEH Elijah has just slaughtered the prophets of Baal – he has just had some 450 prophets killed! These were the prophets of the god Baal whom Jezebel has brought into Israel when she married King Ahab. Elijah has just “won” a huge test - he had challenged the Israelites to choose - either the God of Baal or the God of Abraham… In the course of this test or contest YHWEH has appeared and fulfilled the challenge and the god Baal has not shown up…

Elijah has just purged Israel of all of the foreign prophets of the god Baal… And this does not sit well with the King’s wife… Jezebel is out for revenge! She has been humiliated by Elijah and she doesn’t want to take it anymore! In what would seem like his moment of victory, Elijah is instead thrown into great fear, despair, and hopelessness… Elijah runs out of town to avoid death by a very unhappy Jezebel – who has just lost all of her prophets and is embarrassed, angry & humiliated by this prophet of YHWEH.

Elijah is here presented as one having a “dark night of the soul”… He’s exhausted and feeling sorry for himself… He’s sure that all is lost, that no one is left who will value what he has to say and he just sits down under a tree to die! Elijah has reached the “end of his rope” and he does what depressed folks often do – he goes to sleep!

We all have some hot, dry, & parched times in our lives, right? I’m not talking about clinical depression here... There are clearly various levels and forms and causes of mental depression… I am not speaking here about severe, prolonged, or clinical depression… We can thank God this day for skilled counselors and medicines that can help persons move out of what we now know is a chemical imbalance… A true clinical depression needs specialists and medicines just as much as someone with any other sort of medical condition like diabetes or leukemia. Today I am focusing on a lessor, yet still painful form of depression – one that is part of almost every person’s life experience at some time or other...

I am talking here today about the “down” days we all have… I am talking about the days when nothing seems to buoy us up… I’m talking about the days when nothing seems “quite right”, about the times when we feel hopeless and frustrated and we can’t just “snap out of it”… I’m talking about the days when we have to drag ourselves through the day with no energy or focus… These feelings are sometimes part of the “process” of life, and when we are really down in the dumps we can’t see a way “up” or “out”…

Elijah was really down in the dumps… Even after his major victory he feels that he is all alone and forgotten… His “get up and go” “got up and went”!… Elijah flees for his life -- not only to preserve himself from being killed by Jezebel, but also because it seems to him that everything he has worked for is about to be extinguished. When he sits down under that tree Elijah has “just about had it”! The only thing he can do is go to sleep!

And as we watch Elijah asleep under that tree we are reminded how God makes God’s presence known in those moments… God is right there tending Elijah’s physical needs, waking him up with something to eat and drink to sustain his body… And God wakes him up again with more food and drink before encouraging him to walk further into the desert to get to the Mountain of Horeb… (Our Bible Study this week noted that this story mimics many of the same kinds of things that Moses experienced when he journeyed into the wilderness with the Israelites – seeking a place to go after they had escaped Egypt… Forty days and nights… wilderness walking… miraculous food & water…a trek up a mountain to seek God’s guidance and direction. We agreed that these are all clues that the story is more than just a simple walk in the park! These are story-telling cues to alert us that God will surely surprise us in this story!

So Elijah walks 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness (sustained by miraculous provisions) and finally gets to the mountain at Horeb – “God’s holy mountain”… And after Elijah once again has a chance to sleep God challenges Elijah to explain why he has come there…

And even as Elijah gives his answer there’s a bit of a whiney tone to it… because Elijah is still really down in the dumps… And God instructs Elijah to go and stand on the mountain before God… And even though invited outside, apparently Elijah stays in the cave until after the hurricane goes by… until after the earthquake comes along… and even after the fire comes by… It is only when Elijah hears a gentle and quiet whisper of a voice that Elijah finally emerges from the cave… And God asks Elijah the same question God had asked him earlier…. and Elijah's answer is just the same. It would seem that Elijah hasn't changed at all…

And apparently neither has God!

For God then instructs this struggler in no uncertain terms about what he is to do next….

God sends Elijah back - out into the world again - back across the desert to Damascus - to continue God's work…. It seems that Elijah has some more anointing to do and that his job as prophet for God is not over yet! There is yet a new king in Syria to come - a successor to Ahab for Israel… There is even a successor to Elijah’s own work as well - Elisha, son of Shaphat. And God makes it clear that it is now time for Elijah to get to it!

Even when we think all we can do is give up, God indicates that God has something more for us to do… Even when we think we’ve come to the end of our work or the end of this particular chapter, God surprises us with new walking orders & a new chapter to begin…

God calls and speaks to each of us in our lives… God calls us and has expectations for us in spite of our own fears… The Bible is full of stories about folks who don’t feel strong enough or smart enough or articulate enough or brave enough to do God’s bidding… Yet God continues to call them and us out… God urges us to move along!

Think of Elijah’s story as a mirror held up for each of us…

Perhaps this story invites you to examine what kinds of fear inhibit you this day…What are your fears - at work… at home… or in your relationships with others…

Perhaps this story invites you to re-consider what God is calling you to do, right now, or in the coming days…. This story clearly reminds each of us to listen carefully for that still small whisper of a voice… the voice that doesn’t always get heard above the thunder and the lightning, the noise & the busy-ness of our lives… Perhaps we are reminded this day that each of our lives matters to God! Elijah had to relearn that God was always there with him… Maybe we do too…

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.